On Thursday, Hannover president Martin Kind confirmed that Cardiff have approached Die Roten over a possible winter transfer for the ex-Molde player.

“Cardiff are interested. I can confirm that,” Kind told the German football magazine kicker.

However, although Kind had told Neue Presse that Diouf “has signalled that he wants to leave the club” and that the club are “open” to the idea, new Hannover coach Tayfun Korkut wants the Senegal international to stay.

“When we have quality, we should hold onto that quality,” Korkut said in kicker. “He is an important player. That’s the state of things at the moment.”

However, Kind said earlier this week that Hannover would be willing to sanction Diouf’s sale once they had “signed one or two players,” and on Thursday they announced the loan signing of Latvia international Artjoms Rudnevs from Hamburg with the option for a permanent deal.

The attacker scored 12 goals for Hamburg in his debut season but had dropped down the pecking order in the current campaign.

Hannover have also set their sights on 20-year old Chilean striker Nicolas Castillo from Universidad Catolica but, according to Kind, the transfer is “complicated,” with Catolica currently wanting to keep some of the transfer rights.